Friday, November 3

Game Night 2: Lakers

BREAKING NEWS- The Sonics just announced that Johan Petro is out with an irregular heartbeat. No word on whether Jack Sikma is suiting up. More info soon. -Paul

ESPN reports that Kobe will play tonight, according to his website, which I will not list here because he doesn't need our help getting hits on his site.

As it stands now, Kobe Bryant is still uncertain for tonight’s game in LA – which means the oddsmakers have taken the game off the board.

Regardless of Bryant, the Lakers are off to a fine start, 2-0 with both games featuring strong performances in the second half. In fact, the Lakers employed a Phil Jackson classic – the dominating third quarter – to win both games. Against Phoenix in game 1, LA outscored the Suns 34-21 in the 3rd quarter; against Golden State it was a 38-25 advantage. It doesn’t take a brain surgeon to figure out that Bob Hill must get his troops to focus coming out of halftime.

A quick look at the Lakers game against the Warriors shows that 4 guys scored in double figures (Radmanovic, Odom, Walton, Turiaf (!)), and that 3 others scored either 8 or 9 points, meaning the scoring is going to be coming from all angles. I’d expect Turiaf to play quite a bit tonight as well, even if Bryant plays. The 4 key guys for LA in both games were Walton, Smush Parker, Mo Evans, and Lamar Odom as the quartet was on the floor for each of the 3rd quarter runs that led the Lakers to victories.

What to expect tonight? Depends on if #8, err, #24 plays. I expect Allen and Ridnour to have strong games again, for Collison to rebound from a miserable first game, for Lewis to have to work very hard to stop Lamar Odom, and for Danny Fortson to rack up a lot of fouls in not very many minutes. Most importantly, I expect a lot of points, almost 80s-esque in fact. In the end, the Lakers should be able to put the Sonics away in the 3rd and 4th quarters.

11 comments:

Lance Uppercut
said...

I hear you can still lay bets on that game at Sportsbook.com. Of course, internet gambling is illegal, but just so you know, the line is Lakers -4.5. Sorry guys, but that seems like a good chance to make some money, and not by way of betting on the Sonics

Looks like Petro will start tonight in lieu of Sene if Sene's ankle doesn't heal.

Just curious: If Turiaf, Petro, and Gelabale are all on the court together simultaneously, will this set an NBA record for most French players on the same court? Does anyone other than me care about this stuff.

And to the guy who found out that Mr. Eko got killed via my comment rather than through watching the episode: My bad. From now on I'll wait 48 hours before saying anything Lost-related. Seriously, though, you should watch the episode anyways, it's still worth seeing. Besides, that show's so trippy you can never be sure anyone's really dead anyways.

Not that anyone cares, but I think if Kobe plays we have a good chance of pulling this one off. Kobe getting his will stunt the play of his teammates, while we may well attain a post-season intensity in an effort to exorcise the demons of the other night. If Kobe doesn't play, I think it all falls on Rashard and his 'ability' to stop Odem from eating him alive. Here's hoping Kobe plays.

Good call, Frank. I'm personally hoping we get the "Proud Kobe" version tonight, the one where he doesn't take any shots to show that he's not a ballhog, thereby gumming up the entire offense and causing Smush Parker to look even more bewildered than he usually does.

SEATTLE, Friday, Nov. 3, 2006 – Seattle SuperSonics center Johan Petro will not play in tonight’s game against the Los Angeles Lakers at STAPLES Center. At this morning’s shoot-around, the second-year player was diagnosed with an irregular heartbeat. The heartbeat has since returned to normal, but as a precautionary move, Petro will be placed on the inactive roster for tonight’s game. Pending an examination tomorrow in Seattle with team doctors, he is expected to play Sunday vs. the Lakers at KeyArena.